Belt training troughing idler assembly for endless belt conveyors



Oct. 17, 1961 R. F. o PRESTI 3,004,652 BELT TRAINING TROUGHING IDLERASSEMBLY FOR ENDLESS BELT CONVEYORS Filed NOV. 6, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 1'IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII I N VEN TOR.

BY Roy F LoPresti A T TORNE Y Oct. 17, 1961 R. F. LO PRESTI 3,004,652

BELT TRAINING TROUGHING IDLER ASSEMBLY FOR ENDLESS BELT CONVEYORS FiledNov. 6, 1958 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR.

BY Roy F [.0 Fresh TTORNEY Oct. 17, 1961 R. F. LO PRESTI 3,004,652

BELT TRAINING TROUGHING IDLER ASSEMBLY FOR ENDLESS BELT CONVEYORS FiledNov. 6, 1958 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 rd PG I lj I 8 I- 54 i 46 5 48 57 5a 48INVENT OR.

Roy F Lo Presti Q M United States Patent Ofitice 3,004,652 Patented Oct.17, 1961 3,004,652 BELT TRAINING TROUGHING IDLER ASSEMBLY FOR ENDLESSBELT CONVEYORS Roy F. Lo Presti, Chicago, IlL, assignor to GoodmanManufacturing Company, Chicago, III., a corporation of Illinois FiledNov. 6, 1958, Ser. No. 772,384 8 Claims. (Cl. 198202) This inventionrelates generally to belt conveyors and more particularly to an improvedtroughing roller or idler assembly capable of exerting a centering biason the load-carrying reach of a belt. This application is acontinuation-in-part of Roy F. LoPresti United States application,Serial No. 689,720 filed October ll, 1957, now abandoned, for BeltAlignment Troughing Roller Assembly for Endless Belt Conveyors.

According to the present invention, (1) a troughing roller assembly isyieldably connected between a pair of spaced supports, (2) a centerroller of the assembly is offset downstream from the yieldableconnections in the direction of belt travel, and (3) a pair ofdownwardly and inwardly inclined troughing rollers are located one oneach side of the center roller. Thus, when a load is imposed on theofiset center roller the entire assembly is caused to turn about theyieldable connections, thereby moving the center roller and the innerends of the wing rollers upstream opposed to the direction of belttravel. When the inner ends of the wing rollers are moved upstream whilethe outer ends remain substantially in place, the axis of rotation ofeach wing roller is canted at an angle with respect to the longitudinalcenterline of the conveyor. The wing rollers, rotating about this cantedaxis, exert inward and downward force components on the respective edgeportions of the belt, tending to center the belt about the longitudinalcenterline of the conveyor.

In the prior art, a suspended idler roller assembly usually has thelongitudinal axis of the center roller in alignment with the laterallyspaced end connections which connect the assembly to the spacedsupports. Where such an assembly is used on a downwardly slopingconveyor, the inner ends of the wing rollers are downstream from theirouter ends, relative to the plane in which the belt travels, because theidler assembly tends to hang vertically downward. This condition resultsin an inherently detraining effect which, once the belt gets oifcenter,tends to drive it further oifcenter.

The present invention overcomes this difliculty in the prior artassemblies inasmuch as it displaces the inner ends of the Wing rollersupstream to a position above that which the roller would normally assumedue to the influence of gravity.

With the foregoing considerations in mind it is a principal object ofthis invention to provide a pendent troughing roller assembly exerting acentering bias to a belt responsive to load on the roller assembly.

Another object of this invention is to provide a pendent troughingroller assembly eiiective to overcome the detraining tendency of adownwardly sloping conveyor belt responsive to load on the rollerassembly.

A further object of this invention is to provide an improved troughingroller assembly having a pair of inclined wing rollers whose inner endsare movable up stream relative to the movement of the belt to exert atraining force on the belt responsive to the weight supported by theroller assembly.

Other objects and advantages of the invention Will be apparent from astudy of the specification, taken with the drawings which, together,describe and illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention and whatis now considered to be the best mode of practicing the principlesthereof.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a cross sectional view through an endless belt conveyorshowing one embodiment of a troughing roller assembly according to thepresent invention;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the troughing roller assembly shown in FIGURE1;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2,looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 4 is a detailed sectional view taken along the line 4--4 ofFIGURE 2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 5 is a view similar to FIGURE 3 showing the troughing rollerassembly of FIGURES l and 2 applied to a downwardly sloping conveyor;

FIGURE 6 is a plan view of another form which the invention may take;

FIGURE 7 is a view similar to FIGURE 6 showing the angular displacementof the wing rollers resulting from a load applied to the offset centerroller; and

FIGURE 8 is an end elevational view taken along the line 8-8 of FIGURE7, looking in the direction of the arrows.

In FIGURES 1 through 5, a troughing roller assembly embodying one formof the invention is indicated genorally at 10. The roller assembly 16 isemployed for transmitting a load on a conveying reach 11, of a movableendless belt conveyor, into a pair of laterally spaced flexible ropestrands 122-12, which are supported at intervals throughout theirlengths upon vertical supports 1313. Each of the supports 13 has securedto the upper end portion thereof a U-shaped saddle 14 for receiving therespective rope strand 12 to train the strands along generally parallelcourses.

The support 1313 are each telescopically received within a base socket16 maintained in laterally spaced relationship to each other relative tothe conveyor course by means of a strut 17, each of the base sockets 16having a foot 18 resting upon a mine floor F or the like.

A return reach 21 of the conveyor belt is supported and guided by anidler roller assembly 22 which is in turn supported from the strut 17 bya pair of brackets 19.

The troughing roller assembly 10 includes a center load-supportingroller 23 turning upon a stationary idler shaft 24. Each end portion ofthe, idler shaft 24 is milled to provide a pair of parallel flats 26which are received in slots 27 on spaced bracket arms 28. The twobracket arms 2828 extend downstream in the direction of belt movementfrom a strap 29 located up stream relative to the center load supportingroller 23, as best seen in FIGURES 2, 3 and 5.

A pair of inclined wing rollers 31-31 are each mounted upon an idlershaft 32 and each shaft 32 terminates at its inner end in a clevis 33which is pin-connected by pins 34 to that end of the strap 29 that isimmediately adjacent thereto. The other end of each of the shafts 32projects beyond the outer end of the respective inclined or wing roller31 and is. also provided with a clevis 36 which is connected by a pinconnection 37 to a connector means such as a U-shaped bracket38 restingupon the adjacent rope strand 12. Each of the brackets 38 has a pair ofaligned apertures 39 therein for receiving a wedge 41 to clamp thetroughing roller assembly It) in place on the rope strand 12.

Referring now to FIGURE 4 of the drawings, the clevis connection 33 tothe strap 29 is such that the two wing rollers 31 have a limited amountof movement in a generally horizontal plane with respect to the strap 29and the center roller 23, yet the connection provides tion of beltmovement.

substantially free articulating movement in a generally vertical planeas would be occasioned by changes in load upon the conveying reach 11.The clevis connection 36 of the idler shafts 32 of the inclined wingrollers 31 to the mounting brackets 38 is such that the wing rollers 31may have swinging movement in a generally horizontal plane substantiallyupstream and downstream relative to the movement of the belt conveyoracross the roller assembly 16.

As shown in FIGURE 3, the conveying reach 11 is supported on the centerroller 23 which can be positioned for support in any one of the slots 27of the bracket arms 28. A load on the center roller 23 is eifective toswing or rock the roller assembly about a principal axis and move thecenter roller generally downwardly and backwardly in an arcuate path inan upstream direction relative to the movement of the conveying reach11. Such upstream movement of the center roller 23 is transmitted to theadjacent inner ends of the wing roller 31 causing the inner ends of thewing rollers to also move upstream against the direc- If the conveyingreach 11 of the conveyor belt becomes misaligned, as seen in FIGURE 2,the movement of the inner ends of the wing rollers 31 generally upstreamresults in one of the wing rollers 31 having a greater contact with theconveying reach 11 causing a corrective thrust to be applied to theconveying reach 11, as shown by thearrow in FIGURE 2.

If desired, the center roller 23 may be located selectively as in theslots 27 to move its axis of rotation still further from the line ofcenters through the connection -in order to increase the centering biasapplied to the belt.

For example, if the conveyor shown in FIGURE 1 is operating on a verysteep incline, it may be desirable to support the center roller 23 inthe outermost notch 27 in order to counteract the inherent detrainingeffect of a pendent roller assembly.

Referring now to FIGURES 6 through 8, there is shown another embodimentof a troughing roller asand 54 which will yield to permit tipping orrocking of the assembly as a unit. When a load is applied to the centerroller 52, the roller assembly 44 tips or turns slightly about aprincipal axis coinciding with the points of connection of the assemblyto the strands. Where this turning or swinging has occurred, as shown inFIGURES 7 and 8, the wing rollers 49 and 51 are canted relative to thelongitudinal centerline of the conveyor to exert a centering forcecomponent to the conveying reach of the belt.

It is to be noted that each modification of the improved troughingroller assemblies 10 and 44, disclosed and described supra, includes aload-supporting part or portion that is disposed in laterally offsetrelationship to the remaining part or portion of the respective rollerassembly in a direction that will be downstream relative to thedirection of travel of the belt conveyor that may be supported therebyfor movement thereacross.

In the modification, as illustrated in FIGURES 1 through 5, theload-supporting laterally otfset part or portion of the roller assembly10' includes the center roller 23 which is laterally offsetin suchdownstream direction to the remaining part of the roller assembly 10such as the wing rollers 3131, connector means 38, etc.

In the modification, as illustrated in FIGURES 6 through 8, theload-supporting laterally offset part or portion of the roller assembly44 includes the wing rollers 49, 51 and the center roller 52 which areoffsetin such downstream direction relative to the remaining part of theroller assembly '44 which includes the connector means 48--48, bar 46,etc.

Both the troughing roller assemblies 10 and 44 according to the presentinvention are especially adapted for use in conveyors running downgradeas seen in FIGURE 5. The conventional troughingroller assembly, in suchcases, will hang pendently and the inner ends of the wing rollers willbe downstream" from the outer ends thereof in the direction of beltmovement, resulting in a tendency of the conveying reach to becomedetrained. By ottsetting a part of the load-supporting portion of eachroller assembly It) or 44 in the direction of belt movement from a planethat is substantially normal to the inclined supports 12 and which alsoincludes the respective connector means 38 and 48 at the outer ends ofthe wing rollers the inner ends of the wing rollers will be swungupstream or uphill. While FIGURE 5 illustrates the modification of theroller assembly 10, it is to be understood that the roller assembly 44will also operate in substantially the same fashion and for the sake ofbrevity only the roller assembly 10 has been so illustrated.

While the invention has been shown and described in terms of a preferredembodiment, it will be understood that various changes and modificationsmay be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the inventionas defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A troughingidler assembly for automatically centering a flexibleconveyor belt on the assembly as it moves thereacross in an otfcentercondition, said assembly including, in combination, a center roller, atleast a pair of wing rollers flanking the center roller and connectedthereto whereby the rollers react as a unit when a load is imposed onthe assembly, and means for connecting the assembly to spaced supportmeans such as flexible strands to thereby enable at least a limitedrotational movement of the assembly about an axis passing through thepoints of ing a flexible conveyor belt on theassembly as it movesthereacross in an offcenter condition, said assembly including, incombination, a center roller, at least a pair of wing rollers flankingthe center roller, a substantially rigid roller supporting frame meansconnecting the wing rollers to the center roller to thereby restrainmovement of the rollers with respect to one another in a generallyvertical plane and enable the rollers to react as a unit when a load isimposed on the assembly, and means for connecting the assembly to spacedsupport means such as flexible strands to thereby enable at least alimited rotational movement of the assembly about an axis passingthrough the points of connection of the assembly to the support means,said center roller being offset downstream in the direction of the belttravel from the points of connection of the assembly to the supportmeans to thereby enable at least the outer ends of the wing rollers tobe oriented in a downstream direction relative to the inner ends inresponse to subsidence of the center roller under load.

3. A troughing idler assembly for automatically centering a flexibleconveyor belt on the assembly as it moves rollers react as'a unit when aload is imposed onthe assembly, and means for connecting the assembly tospaced support means such as flexible strands to thereby enable at leasta limited rotational movement of the assembly about an axis passingthrough the points of connection of the assembly to the support means,said center roller being offset downstream in the direction of belttravel from the points of connection of the assembly to the supportmeans to thereby enable at least the outer ends of the wing rollers tobe oriented in a downstream direction relative to the inner ends inresponse to subsidence of the center roller under load.

4. A troughing idler assembly for automatically centering a flexibleconveyor belt on the assembly as it moves thereacross in an otfcentercondition, said assembly including, in combination, a center roller, atleast a pair of wing rollers flanking the center roller and connectedthereto whereby the rollers react as a unit when a load is imposed onthe assembly, and means for connecting the outer ends of the wingrollers to spaced support means such as flexible strands to therebyenable at least a limited rotational movement of the assembly about anaxis passing through the points of connection of the outer ends of thewing rollers to the support means, said center roller being offsetdownstream in the direction of belt travel from the wing rollers tothereby enable at least the outer ends of the wing rollers to beoriented in a downstream direction relative to the inner ends inresponse to subsidence of the center roller under load.

5. The troughing idler assembly of claim 4 further characterized by andincluding means for adjusting the amount of olfset of the center rollerdownstream from the wing roller to thereby vary the downstreamorientation of the outer ends of the wing rollers with respect to theirinner ends.

6. A troughing idler assembly for automatically centering a flexibleconveyor belt on the assembly as it moves thereacross in an oifcentercondition, said assembly including, in combination, a center roller, atleast a pair of wing rollers flanking the center roller and connectedthereto whereby the rollers react as a unit when a load is imposed onthe assembly, and means for connecting the assembly to spaced supportmeans such as flexible strands to thereby enable at least a limitedrotational movement of the assembly about an axis passing through thepoints of connection of the assembly to the support means, said centerroller and said wing rollers being offset downstream in the direction ofbelt travel from the points of connection of the assembly to the supportmeans in a loaded condition and generally aligned with one another in anunloaded condition to thereby enable at least the outer 6 ends of thewing rollers to be oriented in a downstream direction relative to theinner ends in response to subsidence of the center roller under load.

7. A troughing idler assembly for a flexible strand conveyor, saidtroughing idler assembly including, in combination, connector meansadjacent each end portion thereof for connecting the troughing idlerassembly be tween a pair of flexible strands, said connector meansenabling the troughing idler assembly to rock about a generallyhorizontally disposed axis located generally parallel to the troughingidler assembly in response to load thereon, first roller means includinga pair of wing rollers each extending generally toward each other from arespective one of the connector means, second roller means including acenter roller operatively interconnected with the wing rollers, andoffset means disposing at least one of the roller means in oifsetrelationship to the rocking axis to thereby cause the troughing idlerassembly, upon imposition of a load thereon, to rock about the generallyhorizontally disposed axis in a direction to orient the outer ends ofthe wing rollers further downstream than the inner ends relative totravel of a conveyor belt that may be supported by the troughing idlerassembly for movement thereacross.

8. A troughing idler assembly for automatically centering a conveyorbelt as it moves across the troughing idler assembly in an oflcentercondition, said troughing idler assembly including, in combination, acenter roller and a pair of wing rollers flanking the center roller, theaxes of the wing rollers lying in substantially the same vertical planein an unloaded condition, means for connecting the center roller to theWing rollers whereby the center roller is generally perpendicularlyoffset from the wing rollers, the axis of the center roller lying in aplane which is substantially parallel to the aforesaid vertical plane,and means for connecting the ends of the wing rollers, and consequentlythe troughing idler assembly, to a pair of spaced supports such asflexible strands which enable the troughing idler assembly to rotateabout a generally horizontally disposed axis which is substantiallyparallel to the axes of the wing rollers to thereby orient the wingrollers in a conveyor belt centering position in response to impositionof a load on the idler assembly.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Re.24,611 Stamos Feb. 24, 1949 2,195,159 Wood Mar. 26, 1940 2,880,851Salmons Apr. 7, 1959

